Supporting Student Executive Functions

Insights and Strategies for Educators

Author:

Lisa Carey, Alexis Reid

In Supporting Student Executive Functions, two clinical and classroom experts deliver an insightful and accessible guide to executive functioning skills. Lisa Carey, Ed.D., and Alexis Reid, M.A., explain how these skills develop, how executive functioning challenges show up in the classroom, and how, if unaddressed, those challenges interfere with student learning.

Part I builds an understanding of the science of executive functioning and how it develops during the K–12 years. Part II offers a practical, example-rich approach to help educators develop and support students’ executive functions with tips, suggestions, and action steps.

Building on the research-backed Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines, the authors pay special attention to the Guideline “Provide options for Executive Functions” to show which types of supports are most meaningful at different stages of a student’s K–12 journey.

Educators—but also medical professionals, caregivers and parents, and students themselves—will gain a deeper understanding of the latest science on executive functioning as well as valuable, easy-to-implement strategies to use in the classroom today.

Supporting Student Executive Functions is available now in paperback ($37, 204 pages, ISBN: 9781943085187) and EPUB ($37, ISBN: 9781943085194) format wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Understanding Executive Functioning
- Chapter 1: Signs of Struggle
- Chapter 2: What Are Executive Functions?
- Chapter 3: Executive Functions and the Developing Brain
- Chapter 4: Executive Functioning and Universal Design for Learning
Part II: Developing and Supporting Executive Functioning
- Chapter 5: Establishing Clear Goals
- Chapter 6: Determining Priorities and Creating a Plan
- Chapter 7: Teaching Metacognition and Reflection
- Chapter 8: Mindfully Designing a Learning Environment to Support Executive Functioning
- Chapter 9: Scaffolding Learning With Agendas, Transitions, Routines, and Breaks
- Chapter 10: Using Mindfulness, Movement, and the Arts to Support Executive
References
Index
About the Authors

ISBN

9781943085187

Copyright Year

2024

Page Count

204

Whether you are a veteran, training, or newly minted teacher, Supporting Student Executive Functions: Insights and Strategies for Educators is the best curbside consult you could ever have and maybe didn’t even know you needed. Lisa Carey and Alexis Reid make complicated neurocognitive processes – and how they manifest in learners’ behavior – accessible and actionable. After reading this volume, educators will be able to approach even the most confounding lapses of motivation and organization with empathy and effective skill-building.”

- Jason Fogler, Ph.D., Senior Psychologist and Co-Director, ADHD Program, Brain, Mind, and Behavior Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Psychology, Harvard Medical School

Lisa Carey & Alexis Reid have taken a complex subject, executive functions, and made it accessible for educators through the use of personal anecdotes, research studies, examples, and strategies. Even experienced educators will learn something new about executive functions from this book. Carey & Reid have succeeded in making executive functions approachable while simultaneously providing practical applications that can be used immediately in the classroom!”

- Jennifer L. Pusateri, author of Transform Your Teaching with Universal Design for Learning

Dr. Lisa Beth Carey is a teacher educator and researcher with a focus on improving educational experiences and outcomes for students with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Dr. Carey was one of the inaugural fellows of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education, where she received extensive training in the cognitive neuroscience of learning, behavioral science, school law, and research methods.

Before she was accepted as one of the inaugural fellows at the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education, Dr. Carey was a special educator in St. Mary’s and Baltimore Counties of Maryland, specializing in inclusive practices for students with emotional- behavioral and developmental disabilities. She has taught as adjunct special education faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Towson University. Dr. Carey is a member of the CAST National Faculty and has facilitated Universal Design for Learning (UDL) professional learning projects nationwide.

Dr. Carey holds a BA in history from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a MEd in Teaching from Goucher College, an Administrator One advanced certificate from Towson University, and a doctorate in Instructional Technology from Towson University.

Alexis Reid, M.A., is an educational therapist and learning consultant who specializes in executive functioning (EF); social emotional learning (SEL); teaching, learning, and human development; as well as designing flexible and accessible learning environments through Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In her private practice, Reid Connect, LLC, located in Boston, Cape Cod, and virtually, Alexis supports individuals and the systems in which they exist at the intersections of learning and well-being. Furthermore, Alexis has been a CAST UDL National Faculty and Cadre member for over a decade. She facilitates online and in-person professional development courses and trainings around the globe on UDL as well as workshops focusing on executive functioning and SEL.

Alexis and her brother, licensed psychologist Dr. Gerald Reid, PhD, are also co-hosts of the ReidConnect-Ed Podcast, which aims to connect and educate curious-minded individuals with information relating to mental health, learning, performance, education, wellness, executive functioning, and much more.